A recent development in the construction industry is the growing popularity of continuous insulation, which is designed to extend across structural members in a continuous manner and configured to minimize thermal bridging. Some popular types of continuous insulation include rigid foam, mineral wool, biomass, and wood insulation, any of which can be installed on the exterior side of the structural members of a building construction. With the advent of continuous insulation as a frequent requirement in wall construction of new building products, various issues have arisen including those relating to the effectiveness of fire protection, moisture management, the maintenance of edge integrity of the wall assembly after installation, and the management of variations in wall assembly thickness during installation. For wall systems incorporating continuous insulation, moisture management becomes an important issue due to the lack of openings in the continuous layer that would otherwise allow for movement of moisture from interior to exterior portions of the wall assemblies. Variation in the thickness of different insulation panel products result in installed wall assemblies varying in thickness from one building to another. For manufacturers of wall systems and accessories, such as starter tracks, variations in wall thickness from one installation to another necessitate the need to produce different versions of a given accessory in order to accommodate the varying thicknesses, thereby potentially increasing manufacturing and inventory costs. Furthermore, wall assemblies containing continuous insulation often are thicker than wall assemblies containing traditional types of insulation resulting in thicker assembly edges that are more prone to wear and tear.
Other challenges arise in the area of wall assemblies and construction. For example, fire safety has always been an issue in construction. With the advent of modern materials and construction techniques, the need for construction features and components that can tend to resist the spread of fire has persisted. Furthermore, the constructability of wall systems has been and continues to be a target for improvements. Oftentimes, adjustments to wall assemblies at the time of installation are necessary to achieve the desired appearance, performance and durability of the finished product. Yet current designs of wall systems often do not provide the necessary flexibility to achieve such adjustments efficiently or effectively. Additional challenges include water management, not just in installations with continuous insulation panels, but other wall systems that are exposed to weather.
Consequently, there is a need for wall accessories that can address one or more of these and related issues. The present disclosure addresses this need and provides additional aspects that can prove useful in the construction industry.